Battle of Yarmouk 636 (Early Muslim Invasion) DOCUMENTARY

1381 Years ago between the 15th and 20th of August the geopolitical situation in the middle east changed forever The eastern Roman Empire faced an invasion from the new Religion Islam and they fought for dominance in the region during the battle of Yarmouk Thousands died during these six days and violence still rages in the region Welcome to the new Edition of Kings and generals the documentary series First we wanted to thank everyone who has been watching our documentary so far Statistically few people watch the end of videos so we decided to ask for your subscriptions here We're going to produce more documentaries So please subscribe so you don't miss a thing In one of our previous videos we covered the war between the Byzantine empire and the Sassanian shahdom that took place between 602 and 628 Now in order to understand the situation the region before the early Muslim conquest please watch our previous videos. To summarize, that war ended inconclusively neither side gained much and conflict week in both states and exposed them to an invasion from the new caliphate While the two great empires were fighting a bitter war to the south of them the prophet of Islam Muhammad was preaching his new religion By 630 he had successfully united most of Arabia under his control Muhammad died in 632 And was succeeded by Abu Bakr although most of the peninsula rebelled against him the new caliph was able to restore his kingdom in 633 Abu Bakr launched an invasion against lands Beyond Arabia during the very same year Eastern Syria Western Iraq and central Jordan were all conquered it became the foothold for the next phase of his plan The invasion of Palestine and Syria This region was a weakness in the Byzantine defenses The local population was often disloyal for religious reasons and Roman rule was just recently restored after the war against the Sassanids Historically these lands were usually invaded by the Persians from the east so the defenses to the south were lacking in 634 Abu Bakr ordered the invasion of Palestine and Syria, his plan was to take control of these provinces and cut the byzantine Empire in half Emperor Heraclius still considered an attack from the south to be unlikely and only left local garrisons to defend the region The first battle happened on the Roman Sassanian Border at Faraz Arab Force then moved to Palestine with the Roman Garrison of Gaza was handily defeated in February Heraclius then reacted to that and sent a larger army to the center of the region Caesarea Maritima The best Muslim commander Khalid Ibn Al-Walid who previously operated in Sassanian territory joined the army In June and July he defeated Ghassanid forces and then the United byzantine Ghassanid army led by Heraclius himself while taking only minimal losses The Central battle of this campaign took place in August at Ainadayn The Byzantines lost more than 10,000 men along with the ability to defend Palestine the Muslims now controlled the Countryside But weren't eager to attack any of the coastal cities since the Byzantines still led an overwhelming Naval advantage Arab Forces moved to the North Slowly taking over the land Heraclius traveled from Emesa to Antioch and started recruiting a new army to stop the invaders along the Yarmouk river however Muslim forces were moving too fast and soon Basra and Tiberias fell under the pressure Enemies were now in the vicinity of strategically crucial Damascus and Heraclius sent his armies to stop them Unfortunately for them Al-Walid defeated the Romans twice and besieged Damascus Sources offer different versions of the events however either through an assault or betrayal Damascus fell at the beginning of September The death of the caliph slowed down the invasion as his successor Umar demoted Al-Walid but the new Muslim leader still wanted to conquer Syria and at the beginning of 636 The most important City of Central Syria Emesa was occupied Aleppo, and Antioch were now under imminent danger however now Heraclius had five armies under his command and also agreed on a plan with a Persian shah Yazdegerd the third to launch a simultaneous offensive For the first time Byzantine forces dominated the Muslims numerically and although the Sassanians failed to start their attack Heraclius decided not to wait His plan was to either fight four Arab, army separately or at least push them back Despite the fact that Al-Walid was not the commander anymore He was still respected and his new General took his advice to Abandon Emesa and Damascus initially Muslim forces decided to defend on the Yarmouk river But they were forced their withdrawal to the plains beyond it. The Byzantines and Arabs held their positions for almost three months there were attempts to negotiate a ceasefire, but they broke down And finally both armies engaged on the 15th of August The number of Troops is still contested by historians, but it seems that the byzantines outnumbered their foes two to one However some estimations are too fantastic There are claims that the Romans had 400,000 men which seems extremely unlikely as in the previous war against the Sassanids Heraclius was only able to muster around 40,000 Even if recruitment lasted for a year the Byzantines wouldn't be able to field much more than that We know that the Arabs had around 15,000 during the siege of Emesa And were joined by Forces raiding Palestine and reinforcements from Arabia since then so it was probably more like 20 to 25 thousand strong The leader of Byzantines was Armenian general Vahan He used Ghassanid light cavalry under his command as a screening and skirmishing force Armenian infantry was in the center flanked by Mercenary foot soldiers to the left and Greek infantry to the right Infantry was a mix of skirmishers and melee warriors Each of these groups were backed by cavalry line consisting mostly of cataphracts The commanding Chief of the Muslim Army Was Abu Ubaidah But he allowed Al-Walid to lead during the battle Al-Walid divided his infantry into four groups with three cavalry squadrons behind them and a bigger cavalry group in reserve Arab Troops had lighter armor but compensated that with a higher mobility. It should also be said that the roman army was international and multi-confessional the Arab army however worshiped one religion and consisted of one ethnicity So the later had a substantial edge regarding morale Both sides consider the plains to the east of the Yarmouk river favorable As the Byzantines relied on their numbers while the Arabs felt that mobility was their real strength On the first day the elite warriors on both sides dueled each other it is said that the Muslims won most the battles and killed many rival officers At noon Vahan sent one third of his infantry forth for reconnaissance action And in some areas began pushing the Arabs back But most of the army was ordered to not attack at all so this initial success did not last long Eventually units returned to their original positions During the Muslims morning prayer at the dawn of the next day the Byzantines attacked Vahan plan was to tie down the enemy center and use a numerical advantage on the flanks After some struggle the Byzantines succeeded on their left side and their enemies had to retreat all the way back to camp Sources claim that camp followers and even the wives of the Muslims joined the defense and that allow the defenders to drive the Byzantines back The Arabs also had to retreat on the left But eventually took back most of the lost territory as Al-Walid led his cavalry to the area The Byzantine plan had failed as the Muslim reserve counter attacked their center, and they had to retreat to restore the front The third day started similar to the second as Vahan left flank was able to get an advantage and killed many Muslims But Al-Walid restored the formation by sending his cavalry reserve to the right The number of losses the Arabs took was much higher than that of the Byzantines So Al-Walid understood that his defensive tactics were bound to end in defeat and tried to come up with a new strategy The Byzantine leader was sure that his tactics were working and decided to attack the left once more And as in the previous days his forces were able to drive the enemy all the way back to camp This time the right center group of the Arabs also had to retreat And it seemed that the breakthrough would happen soon Al-Walid had to save the day He ordered his left and left center to attack and tie down the opposition, as the Byzantine left and left center advanced too much They had no one to defend their right side. Al-Walid would take advantage of this and send a group to attack there The Byzantines took many losses and had to retreat to avoid encirclement. The Arab right and right center had its share of casualties, but it held off the opposing forces Vahan decided to ask for a ceasefire on the fifth day But his counterpart empathetically declined, as he was sure that his army was on the verge of victory Instead Al-Walid sent a cavalry squadron to secure the closest bridge and now the Byzantines had no way to retreat He concentrated his remaining cavalry on the right flank On the 6th and the last day of the battle the Muslims were ordered forward When the infantry engaged, Al-Walid attacked the enemy cavalry and infantry from the flank and rear The Byzantines still had an advantage in cavalry, but while theirs were spread throughout the front the enemy riders were concentrated Vahan's cavalry was crushed The Muslim right succeeded in their battle against the Byzantine left as the later were attacked by the cavalry from the rear Soon these troops attacked the byzantine center And that was the end of the battle. As the closest bridge was now under Arab control many Byzantines among them Vahan... was killed during the retreat and there were more than 25,000 casualties The Muslims continued their invasion in the next decades they took Syria Egypt and North Africa from the Eastern Roman Empire, and even Constantinople was besieged on multiple occasions The Romans never returned to these lands and the Muslims still hold dominion over them today Thank you for watching our documentary on the battle of Yarmouk we hope that you enjoyed it And we'll be happy to hear your feedback and get your likes. If you share this video, you will help us quite a bit I'm Commissar BRO narrating ------- in Phoenix, and we'll catch you on the next

Channel: Kings and Generals

Views: 2,785,464

Rating: 4.8315768 out of 5

Keywords: history, documentary, lesson, study, educational, history lesson, world history, extra credits history, study history, learn history, Battles, Battle, heraclius, crusades, byzantium, byzantines, constantinople, bazbattles, Invicta, Thfe, Epic history tv, historia civilis, war, evolution, kings and generals, queen victoria, muhammad, islam, invasion, yarmouk, Khalid ibn al-Walid, walid, waleed, armenian, yazid, sasanians, muslim, medieval, caliphate, jerusalem, historical, crusader, templar, islamic, battle of yarmouk

Id: 5Ct4OSmdZ3M

Length: 12min 39sec (759 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 20 2017

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[u/milkermaner]

I mean I don't know the reason for them jerking off, but simply put, Khalid bin Waleed was an excellent general.

The way he crushed armies that outnumbered him, his evasive maneuvering, his ability to know when to take calculated risks.

Yes he killed lots of people and etc, but he was a darned good General.

[u/DiabeticChicken]

"(Input x) was actually first done by the muslims. Islam is credited with its invention."

Damn these niggas really be out here robbing culture everywhere

[u/puneet95]

It is kinda similar in Pakistan. Their ancestors were the biggest victims of the genocide that was unleashed by the invading Arab/Persian/Turkish forces in Sindh, Punjab and many other parts of India. Yet they celebrate these people as heroes! They have even named their missiles after these jihadis!